Live sessions (interactive video rooms, audio rooms, and webinars) draw on your community's monthly live allowance, measured in participant-hours. This article explains what counts, the limits on each session, where to check live usage, and what happens when you reach a limit.
Who can do this: Community owners and admins. Members who go live see a message when the allowance runs out. · Where: Web (admin console). · Plan: Your live allowance, which room types you can use, the number of seats, and how long a session can run all depend on your platform plan.
What counts toward the live allowance
The live allowance (live quota) is counted in participant-hours: one person connected to a room for one hour uses one participant-hour.
- Everyone in the room counts: hosts, speakers, and the audience, including the webinar audience.
- Time in a video room counts in full. Time in an audio room counts at 0.25×: four people in an audio room for an hour use one participant-hour.
- Recording also draws on the live allowance, at 5× per hour of recording. Recording isn't included during a free trial.
- The allowance resets at the start of each calendar month in UTC, whatever your billing date. During a free trial, a lower trial allowance applies until you subscribe.
Limits on each live session
Your platform plan also sets limits for each session:
- Room types: a type your plan doesn't include isn't offered when you start a session.
- Seats: the most people in one room. When you set up a room you can pick fewer Seats. Fewer seats buy a longer session, because both share the month's allowance.
- Session length: "Sessions on your plan can run up to" a set number of hours.
- Cameras and stage: a video room limits how many cameras are on at once, and a webinar limits how many people are on stage.
Check live usage in the admin console
- Admin → Billing → Plan & Usage: the Live quota (participant-hours / month) row shows usage against your plan. See Check plan usage and limits.
- Admin → Billing → Storage Usage: the Live streaming usage section shows the current period (a calendar month in UTC) and your Participant-hours for the month. Under Interactive rooms, it breaks that down into Video room minutes, Audio room minutes, Recording export minutes, and Peak participants. Figures labeled Estimated can still change until they're reconciled.
- Admin → Content → Live: each session's Attendance and Usage (participant minutes).
When the live allowance runs low
When you start, schedule, or set up a room, Mateflow fits it to what's left of the month's allowance. You may get fewer seats ("Set to … seats to fit what's left of this month's live allowance.") or a shorter session ("This session can run up to … limited by what's left of the month's live allowance."). To get a longer session, ask for fewer seats.
A scheduled session is checked again when you set up the room, so its limits can change. The session's Manage console shows the limits it got.
When the live allowance is used up
Starting, scheduling, or setting up a new room, or starting a recording, stops working. A Live allowance used up message appears (Trial live allowance used up during a trial). Admins can click View usage to open Storage Usage; members are asked to contact a community admin.
Rooms that are already running aren't cut off, and people can still join them.
Live sessions become available again when the allowance resets at the start of the next month (UTC). To get more sooner, change to a plan with a larger allowance (see Change or cancel your plan). If your plan offers live add-ons, owners can buy extra participant-hours in Admin → Billing → Add-ons. Add-on hours are used only after the month's plan allowance runs out, and unused add-on hours carry over to later months. See Buy add-ons and top up your wallet.
Troubleshooting live limits
Symptom: A room type is missing when you start a session. Why it happens: Your plan doesn't include it. Fix: Check Plan features on Admin → Billing → Plan & Usage.
Symptom: People see "This room is full." Why it happens: The room reached its seats. Fix: Set up the next session with more Seats, up to your plan's maximum.
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